College XI impresses

The Wairarapa College first XI girls soccer team have been on a roll in 2005.
They have won the championship proper and knockout series in the Wairarapa secondary schoolgirls premier league, two out of four of their interschool games and made the quarter-finals of the national regional secondary schoolgirls tournament in New Plymouth.
In local competition play they had the perfect record of 14 matches for 14 wins.
The championship proper involved 10 games in which they scored a total of 52 goals, while conceding just four, and in the knock-out series of four games they netted 22 goals and conceded only one.
Their interschool games saw them scoring seven goals and conceding eight while at their national regional tourney they had two wins and one draw from eight games, scoring 10 goals sand conceding 13.
Their win-loss record there, however, is better than it looked as they finished eighth out of the 20 participating teams and most of their defeats came in the hotly-contested top eight play-offs.
National group representative Sonya Rutene led by example in her role as captain of the Wairarapa College side. She scored 30 of the 91 goals they scored all season and was a huge contributor on attack and defence.
Another Rutene, Sonya's youngster sister Kelsi, and Rosalie Dew were the other two prolific scorers, both netting on 16 occasions.
Coach Mike Van Woerkom has been delighted with the progress made by the Wairarapa College side this season, something evidenced by their national regional tournament placing. Previous appearances there had seen them place 15th and 10th,
Van Woerkom said the side had strength in most areas, but was especially strong in defence, a point proved by them conceding just the five goals in their 14 local competition games.
"Opposing teams found it very difficult to break open our defence," he said. "We had a lot of composure and skill in that area."
Van Woerkom predicts the 2006 season could be even more noteworthy for Wairarapa College as all but three of the current team will be back on deck then.
This year's squad was: Jenna Athow, Sarah Boyles, Emma Davison Rosalie Dew, Jade Forman, Jessica Hobman, Ariel Hohua, Shakira Nathu, Katherine Orme, Angharad Pritchard, Kelsi Rutene, Sonya Rutune, Samantha Swanson, Helen Young.